Afghanistan gains must not be lost

5:51 PM,
Jun. 21, 2013

Written by

Khaled Hosseini

There are today two main story lines when it comes to Afghanistan: the scheduled pullout of the U.S. troops in 2014, and what a hopeless cause the country has turned out to be.

The widely accepted impression is that, for all the resources poured into Afghanistan, little of value has been achieved. The implication is that continued engagement in the country's future will only lead to disappointment. Though this view is, at least on the surface, understandable, it does not depict a full picture of the reality.

In fact, a great deal has been achieved in Afghanistan, some of it quite dramatic. To ...